Developers will receive a $4.4 million tax break on a new mixed-use project in Chamblee with the requirement that the developers complete several public improvement projects.
The Chamblee Downtown Development Authority approved a tax abatement last Tuesday for the Lumen Chamblee project, which will include 318 apartments, roughly 4,700 square feet of restaurant and retail space and a 509-space parking deck. Located at 2175 American Industrial Way, the project is estimated to be a $73-million investment in the city.
Stein Investment Group and Atlantic Residential, both based in Atlanta, are developing the project. They requested a tax abatement to help cover the costs of several ancillary projects, which DDA Chair Rob Smith said would help fast-track improvements in the area.
“Generally, I like the idea of this project,” Smith said during last week’s meeting. “A lot of these improvements are not directly beneficial to the developer, but it’s really these off-site improvements that really help an area that could use it.”
The tax break will help fund 69 spaces of public parking within the new deck and improvements to the intersection at Chamblee Dunwoody Road at American Industrial Way. A decorative crosswalk and $800,000 worth of traffic signal improvements are also included. In total, the public improvement projects are estimated to cost about $2.7 million.
The rest of the abatement is to offset certain hardship costs accrued by the mixed-use development. Stein Group initially asked for a $7.1 million tax abatement, citing millions of dollars in coronavirus pandemic-related construction cost increases, but the figure was lowered before last Tuesday’s meeting.
At the same meeting, the downtown development authority board mentioned another potential tax break. PruittHealth plans to relocate from its current headquarters in Norcross and construct its new headquarters at 5238 Peachtree Road, which is across the street from the Chamblee MARTA station.
The board deferred the conversation about the abatement, since PruittHealth is in the process of providing more current financial figures to determine the tax break amount.
